page_title: Niagara River
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Niagara River / History
caption_attribution_description: English: "Queenstown, Upper Canada on the Niagara" [Now known as Queenston, Ontario] by Edward Walsh. Image dates from between 1803 and 1807. This watercolour shows the village of Queenston, in the Canadian province of Ontario, known as "Upper Canada" prior to 1841. Travelers on horseback, cart, and foot traverse the wide dirt road, while houses are near the shore of the Niagara River. Queenston is just north of Niagara Falls and the site of the the battle of Queenston Heights on October 13, 1812, in the War of 1812, when the Canadians and British defeated the American forces that invaded the town. Edward Walsh was a surgeon to the 49th Regiment and served in Canada from 1803-1807. Français&#160;: Queenstown, Upper Canada on the Niagara («&#160;Queenstown, Haut Canada, sur le Niagara.&#160;», aujourd'hui Queenston, Ontario) par Edward Walsh. Réalisé entre 1803 et 1807. Cette aquarelle montre le village de Queenston, en Ontario, nommé «&#160;Haut Canada&#160;» jusqu'en 1841. Des voyageurs à pied, à cheval et en charrette cheminent sur une large route non pavée, longeant les maisons situées au bord du fleuve Niagara. Queenston, situé juste au nord des chutes du Niagara, a été le théâtre de la bataille de Queenston Heights le 13 octobre 1812, durant la guerre de 1812. Edward Walsh était chirurgien au sein du 49e régiment et a été mobilisé au Canada de 1803 à 1807.
context_page_description: The Niagara River is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the river's name. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger, Niagara is derived from the name given to a branch of the locally residing native Neutral Confederacy, who are described as being called the Niagagarega people on several late-17th-century French maps of the area. According to George R. Stewart, it comes from the name of an Iroquois town called Ongniaahra, meaning "point of land cut in two".
  The river, which is occasionally described as a strait, is about 58 kilometres long and includes Niagara Falls in its course. The falls have moved approximately 11 kilometres upstream from the Niagara Escarpment in the last 12,000 years, resulting in a gorge below the falls. Today, the diversion of the river for electrical generation has significantly reduced the rate of erosion. The total drop in elevation along the river is 99 metres.
context_section_description: The Niagara River and Falls have been known outside of North America since the late 17th century, when Father Louis Hennepin, a French explorer, first witnessed them. He wrote about his travels in A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America (1698).
  The Niagara River was the site of the earliest recorded railway in America. It was an inclined wooden tramway built by John Montresor (1736–1799), a British military engineer, in 1764.  Called "The Cradles" and "The Old Lewiston Incline," it featured loaded carts pulled up wooden rails by rope. It facilitated the movement of goods over the Niagara Escarpment in present-day Lewiston, New York.
  Several battles occurred along the Niagara River, which was historically defended by Fort George (Canadian side) and Fort Niagara (American side) at the mouth of the river and Fort Erie (Canadian side) at the head of the river. These forts were important during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. The Battle of Queenston Heights took place near the river in the War of 1812.
  The river was an important route to liberation before the American Civil War, when many African-Americans escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad crossed it to find freedom in Canada. The Freedom Crossing Monument stands on the bank of the river in Lewiston to commemorate the courage of the escaping slaves and the local volunteers who helped them secretly cross the river.
  In the 1880s, the Niagara River became the first waterway in North America harnessed for large-scale generation of hydroelectricity.
  On the Canadian side of the river the provincial agency Niagara Parks Commission maintains all of the shoreline property, including Fort Erie, except the sites of Fort George (a National Historic Site maintained federally by Parks Canada), as a public greenspace and environmental heritage.
  On the American side, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation maintains several state parks adjacent to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River.
  Today, the river is the namesake of Niagara Herald Extraordinary at the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
caption: Queenston, Ontario, then known as Queenstown, Upper Canada, in a c. 1805 watercolour by army surgeon Edward Walsh. The Niagara River is clearly visible.
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